Notebook wifi works at home but not at hotspots

In post #5, you provided a nice screenshot of the Xirrus app.
That app shows that you have a "169...." IP address.

In post #10, you state: "I get no ip address at all, not even a 169 type."

Did post #5 and post #10 happen while visiting the same hotspot area?



In the screenshot in post #5, you show to be connected to a Wireless Access Point (WAP) made by an unknown vendor. That row of information shows:
Default Encryption = None
Default Authentication = Open.

Now look at the row for the WAP vendor named Senao.
The information for that WAP is about the same:
Default Encryption = None
Default Authentication = Open.

You should be able to connect to the Senao WAP. You might not be able to surf the web without a username and password, but you should be able to connect to that WAP and get a good IP address. The same is true for the WAP made by the vendor named Trapeze.

However, looking at the screenshot in post #1, there are three Wireless Access Points listed with:
Default Encryption = None
Default Authentication = Open.
You should be able to connect to one of them without a username and password. Just as a test. Just to see if you get a good IP address. (You might need to move the laptop a bit closer to one wall or window to get a better signal strength.) To prevent your computer from connecting to the WAP that you normally connect to at home, you might want to turn off the power to that WAP. That way, you have not changed anything on your laptop that lets your W7 OS connect to Wi-Fi while at home.


You might also want to remove any old connection info that you have for Wireless Access Points other than your home one. This can be done via:
Control Panel >
Network and Internet >
Network and Sharing Center >
Manage wireless networks.
Right click on each old entry and select Remove network from the context menu.



When I follow the steps mentioned by dsperber, the window that pops up for me shows a lists of WAPs that are in range. It is the same window that I get if I click on the network icon in the notification area by the clock. Here is a image of that window published by a university. Is that the window that you see? Is that the window that never populates with a list of WAPs that are in range? Is that the window that shows that you are connected to the hotspot and also tells you that you have "No Internet access"? Or are you using a 3rd party app to control these connections?

indexwheel said:

Been back to my local hotspot and once again, no luck. I can connect to other networks that are available, but as I don't have passwords for them I can't check if there is any access. (even the wap's that are "unsecured" still ask for a password.)............

Once you connect to one of those other networks, you should have an IP address.

Can you get an IP address from any of these other hotspots?

I'm not sure what the problem is or if something is not running... but it really would help us to know if you can get an IP at a hotspot. It does not matter if you need a password to surf the internet. We only care about getting an IP address from any hotspot.

Problem Solved!! ....and I feel like a bit of an idiot for not realizing what was wrong before. It was Peerblock that was stopping Win 7 from getting an IP address all along. I have peeblock set to run on startup, and its icon was in the hidden part of the systry so I didn't see it blinking. So I set the exceptions it needed to run on this hotspot and everything works perfectly now. As to why I didn't have to do this at home, I have no idea...I certainly can't recall having had to do that before.

Anyways, thanks to all for your help, I certainly have learnt a lot more about setting up wifi access now so all wasn't wasted.

Best Regards,
Rob

Glad that you got it working.

A clean boot just did not come to mind since W7 Wi-Fi worked at home.
Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup